The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-02-05
CHANGES IN ALABAMA.
Che Planters Transferring Their In
terests TO the Towns--Northern
Men Investing Largely In
Firm Lands


activity centered at Birmingham, and
which Is beginning to be duplicated AT
Sheffield and Florence, in the northwest
corner of Alabama. will be revolution
AIRY Of the business habits of the popu-
lation and OF the home life and charac-
ter of the people, says writer in the
Louisville Courier-Joarnal. Already
many of the planters of the Black belt
have taken all the money they have
heretofore invested in cotton-raising
and have invested it in real estate and
industries in Birmingham. The mort
cages on the farming lands thus ne
elected will soon expire, and as there
is no money to pay these farms will be
sold and will fall into the hands of
northern capitalists. There is some
fear felt in Alabama lest the northern
men. in casting about for tenants for
the land they acquire by foreclosure,
turn them over to the negroes, IN which
case the agricultural industry would be
left in thriftless and imprvident hands.
There seems to be only a theoretical
reason for this fear. however. and it is
based on the idea that the negro can
endure the malarial character OF the
country better than the white man.
This has been gaeatly exaggerated.
The principal cause OF unhealthful-
ness in this belt, | am told by Gen.
Wood, of Tuscaloosa, one OF the
most prominent lawyer of the state
and a gentleman of wide information
and close student Of his state. is the
lack of II pure water supply. This, he
saws. can be remndicd in the Black belt
at less cost than anywhere else. The
land is all undcrlaid with limestone,
which, when exposed, Is soft and easily
he formed into cislerns for holding wa
ter Exposure hardens the stone. but
the rainwater caught in these cisterns
is purified, preserved, and becomes tho
healthiest of drinking water These
stone cistcrns are already in use on
many farms. but in general the water
supply is neglected, and disease is invl-
ted by drinking the impure water OF
creeks and rivers. With plenty of good
water the agricultural districts ought
60 be populated BY industrious Germans
who would vary the crops aud nurse
the soil, and would not only produce
crops to export, but would soon supply
the industrial and mining centers north
Of the belt with all the market produce
needed. As it is now, Birmingham,
situated at the mouth OF n fairly fertile
and well-waterci valley, is forced to
send to Nashville and other Tennessee
towns for milk, butter Gh ckens. eggs,
etc. There is no necessity for this. A
few market gardeners in the neighbor-
hood of the town would soon get rich,
getting money as fast as the manufac-
xlirers.
When the breakup comes in the
Black belt and northern bankers come
lin possession of the land, venture to
predict that il will not be surrendered
to the negroes. The demand for food
supplies in the mining districts will
make it necessary for the southern
farms to be titled by expert agr.cultur-
lists. and white men will step in. The
negro will move over into Mississippi
Vhe paradise of his race.
The chief danger in the impending
change is in the fact that the lands are
falling INTO the hands Of men who will
be inclined TO consol date it in large
holdings. and that the poor man will
not get a chance for a small farm. All
The mineral lands are now owned by
corporations. and wherever there is a
Sign of speculative value, land compa-
mics have been formed and the ground
gobblcd mp. 1t is then held for specu-
1ation, though in several instances, no
hably at Florence and Sheffield, the
companies are wise enough to appra-
ciate the value Of settlers AMI make a
sharp reduci on In price ii the purcha-
ser binds himself TO settle upon and
improve the ground he buys. At pres
emf the most numerous class of men in
Alabama are the real estate agents.
The change ofownership in tho lands
will drive the present proprieiors to
the towns, and the process OF convert
inc an agricultural populat on into an
Industrial one will chanZe IFS whole
character. Natives vii meet in the
mills and furnaces w tn skilled north
ern workmen, and native merchants
will enter into competition with shrewd
and entorprising business men from
every state. The credit system. so
odions in its effects aud 80 destructive
of business activity. will disappear and
in the next twenty years Alabama Will
be converted from poor and listless
farming territory into rich, active,
and prosperous community. with diver
sified interests. mixed and vigorous
population. and an entirely new
character. The signs of the change
are already plain about Birmingham